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Rent Act 1977

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This is the original version (as it was originally enacted).

Miscellaneous

93Increase of rent without notice to quit

(1)Subject to subsections (2) and (3) below, where a housing association tenancy is a weekly or other periodical tenancy, the rent payable to the housing association or, as the case may be, the housing trust or the Housing Corporation (in this section called "the landlord") may, without the tenancy being terminated, be increased with effect from the beginning of any rental period by a written notice of increase given by the landlord to the tenant—

(a)not later than 4 weeks before the beginning of the rental period (or any earlier date on which the payment of rent in respect of that period falls to be made), and

(b)not later than the time when a notice to quit would have to be served if it were to be effective to terminate the tenancy at the beginning of the said rental period.

(2)Where notice of increase is given under subsection (1) above for the beginning of a rental period and the tenancy continues into that period, the notice shall nevertheless not have effect if the tenancy is terminated by notice given by the tenant in accordance with the provisions (express or implied) of the tenancy and—

(a)the notice to terminate the tenancy is given before the end of the period of 2 weeks following the date on which the notice of increase is given, or such longer period as may be allowed by the notice of increase, and

(b)the date on which the tenancy is made to terminate is not later than the earliest day on which the tenancy could be terminated by a notice given by the tenant on the last day of that period.

(3)A notice of increase under subsection (1) above shall not be valid unless it tells the tenant of his right to terminate the tenancy and of the steps to be taken by him if he wishes to do so, and it also gives him the dates by which, if the increase is not to be effective, notice to terminate the tenancy must be received by the landlord and the tenancy be made to terminate.

(4)This section shall apply to a tenancy notwithstanding that the letting took place before the coming into force of this Act.

(5)Nothing in this section shall authorise any rent to be increased above the rent limit, and any reference in section 88 of this Act to the variation by agreement of the rent recoverable under a tenancy shall include a reference to variation under this section.

94Recovery from landlord of sums paid in excess of recoverable rent, etc.

(1)Where a tenant has paid on account of rent any amount which, by virtue of this Part of this Act, is irrecoverable by the landlord, the tenant who paid it shall be entitled to recover that amount from the landlord who received it or his personal representatives.

(2)Any amount which a tenant is entitled to recover under subsection (1) above may, without prejudice to any other method of recovery, be deducted by the tenant from any rent payable by him to the landlord.

(3)No amount which a tenant is entitled to recover under subsection (1) above shall be recoverable at any time after the expiry of 2 years from the date of payment.

(4)Any person who, in any rent book or similar document, makes an entry showing or purporting to show any tenant as being in arrears in respect of any sum on account of rent which is irrecoverable by virtue of this Part of this Act shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £50, unless he proves that, at the time of the making of the entry, the landlord had a bona fide claim that the sum was recoverable.

(5)If, where any such entry has been made by or on behalf of any landlord, the landlord on being requested by or on behalf of the tenant to do so, refuses or neglects to cause the entry to be deleted within 7 days, the landlord shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £50, unless he proves that, at the time of the neglect or refusal to cause the entry to be deleted, he had a bona fide claim that the sum was recoverable.

95Duty of landlord to supply statement of rent under previous tenancy

(1)Where the rent payable under a tenancy is subject to the rent limit specified in section 88(4)(b) of this Act, the landlord shall, on being so requested in writing by the tenant, supply him with a statement in writing of the rent which was payable for the last rental period of the other tenancy referred to in that subsection.

(2)If, without reasonable excuse, a landlord who has received such a request—

(a)fails to supply the statement referred to in subsection (1) above within 21 days of receiving the request, or

(b)supplies a statement which is false in any material particular,

he shall be liable on a first conviction to a fine not exceeding £50 and, on a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding £100.

(3)Where an offence under this section committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager or secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

96Supplemental

(1)Where a rent determined by a rent assessment committee is registered in substitution for a rent determined by the rent officer, the date of registration shall be deemed for the purposes of this Part of this Act to be the date on which the rent determined by the rent officer was registered.

(2)A landlord shall not by virtue of subsection (1) above be entitled to recover any rent for a rental period beginning before the date when the rent determined by the rent assessment committee was registered.

(3)A county court shall have jurisdiction, either in the course of any proceedings relating to a dwelling-house or on an application made for the purpose by the landlord or the tenant, to determine any question as to the rent limit under this Part of this Act, or as to any matter which is or may become material for determining any such question.

(4)In ascertaining for the purposes of this Part of this Act whether there is any difference with respect to rents or rates between one rental period and another (whether of the same tenancy or not) or the amount of any such difference, any necessary adjustments shall be made to take account of periods of different lengths.

(5)For the purposes of such an adjustment a period of one month shall be treated as equivalent to one-twelfth of a year and a period of a week as equivalent to one-fifty-second of a year.

97Interpretation of Part VI

(1)In this Part of this Act, except where the context otherwise requires—

  • " housing association ", " housing association tenancy " and " housing trust " have the meanings assigned to them by section 86 of this Act; and

  • " tenancy " means a housing association tenancy.

(2)In this Part of this Act references to registration are, subject to section 87(5) of this Act and unless the context otherwise requires, references to registration pursuant to section 87.

(3)It is hereby declared that any power of giving directions conferred on the Secretary of State by this Part of this Act includes power to vary or revoke directions so given.

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